Crawford declared probate judge

The controversial battle for the Hale County probate judge position was settled after a successful write-in campaign by challenger Arthur Crawford Sr.

By Stephanie TaylorStaff Writer

The controversial battle for the Hale County probate judge position was settled after a successful write-in campaign by challenger Arthur Crawford Sr. Crawford won the Democratic primary, but was disqualified after rulings that he didn't follow new campaign finance reporting rules. He launched a write-in campaign and defeated three-term incumbent Leland Avery at the polls earlier this month. Crawford was certified as the winner on Nov. 16. His 3,729 votes surpassed Avery's 3,353 and Republican challenger Bob Hoggle's 1,409.“Thanks to all for your congratulations,” Crawford wrote on his Facebook page. “God is good and his word is truth.” The retired U.S. Army veteran from Sawyerville couldn't be reached for comment Monday.In the April Democratic primary runoff, Crawford won 80 more votes than Avery, but Avery challenged the results, stating that the challenger didn't comply with new campaign finance disclosure laws that require weekly reports to be filed during a runoff. A subcommittee of the Hale County Democratic Party voted 3-2 to disqualify Crawford in May.But a month later, a five-member committee of the state Democratic Party reversed that decision, making Crawford the nominee. Avery became the nominee again in September, after a Montgomery County circuit judge ruled Crawford ineligible. Crawford filed a lawsuit, hoping to stop the election, and launched the write-in campaign.Preliminary election results were unavailable the night of the Nov. 6 election because of problems with a data pack in a voting machine in Sawyerville. Numbers were reported the next day, but it took longer for the write-in votes to be counted and certified by Nov. 16. Crawford will begin the six-year term in January.